


All The Ugly Things You Say

by EmotionalSupportPuma



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Family Issues, Gen, Introspection, Regret, i have like no idea how to tag this tbh, its just the inner thoughts of a villain ya know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-19 12:33:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22911103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmotionalSupportPuma/pseuds/EmotionalSupportPuma
Summary: Conceived in a Vault, it was only right that they grow into Monsters, after all.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	All The Ugly Things You Say

Conceived in a Vault, it was only right that they grow into Monsters, after all.

Unlike her brother, Tyreen is not a thinker. She feels and she acts, but she wouldn't have anyone know that she  _ thinks _ . That she ponders and pours over memories that are better left forgotten. Gods don't have to decide the right way to react like mortals do. They just do and what happens in the wake of that is a problem for someone other than them. But Tyreen returns to a bed at the end of the day and the only thing her brain does is think.

Tonight the musings turn to Nekrotefayo and she wonders idly if their father had been pitting them against one another for the entirety of their childhood. Perhaps hoping that one of them would snap and then  _ he _ wouldn't have to be the one to pull the trigger. It's a thought that leaves acid bubbling in the base of her throat, festering there until Tyreen has someone or something to spew it at. Gods shouldn't fall victim to this careless sort of rage, but she isn't the perfect kind of God after all. She waits until Troy checks in with her. Spits angrily when he tries to insist they go over the plans for their next broadcast.

Again her thoughts trail back to the transgressions of their youth. How their father doted on Tyreen and turned his nose up at his own son. The impressionable child she had been, picking up on this difference and flinging it in Troy's face when she wanted to win an argument that he had the upper hand in. Now that she is older, there is a part of her that regrets every venomous barb that she's used to get under her brothers skin. But Gods don't apologize for the things they've said and so Tyreen curls her lip at him in a condescending snarl.

"Leave me be,  _ parasite _ ." She says.  _ I'm sorry, _ she thinks.

The smile, more of a fox baring its teeth than a person grinning, remains until he retreats for the night. She knows from experience that Troy won't speak to her again until she goes to find  _ him _ . They've built these lies up for too long for him to risk dashing it all with a squabble between siblings. There is no surge of gratification at this victory, it rings hollow in the footsteps Troy takes away. 

There is no relief to the agonizingly slow rot of Tyreen's heart. The way each beat breathes life through her veins, but stabs into the nerves surrounding this essential organ. No harsh words that she spits at Troy, no matter how many replaceable bandits she leeches to death, no amount of new followers. Nothing eases the raw wound that her heart calls home. But Tyreen's a persistent God and one day, regardless of how far away it is, she  _ knows  _ she'll find it. One day she'll eat and the hunger will finally be sated.

Sometimes she forgets just when the ache of starvation first plagued her. Yes, Tyreen had been leeching anything she could from a young age, but back then it had been because she  _ wanted  _ to. Back then it simply made her feel stronger, more right. And then her mother died. From that point on they lived in a cage, Tyreen pacing the edges of captivity with a hunger that she'd never experienced before. Nothing that her father brought to them sated it. She'd have leeched even Troy, her preciously dependent brother, if there'd been the promise of an end to this.

They'd stared up at the stars for so long that Tyreen understood what she needed. A feast like nothing that Nekrotafeyo could ever offer; she needed stars and planets and monsters if there was any hope of surviving this hunger. She needed the freedom to devour the universe piece by piece. The next time their father brought her something to leech their eyes met and the illusion shattered. His silence spoke volumes, the strained words afterwards weren't enough to spin the web of lies once again.  _ Starlight _ , he calls her before leaving.  _ Monster _ , is what she hears and sees in the hollowness of his eyes. For the first time, Tyreen can feel that he's not far off the mark.

The memory hovers somewhere deep within her heart. Once upon a time it was lodged in the pit of her stomach, but nowadays being called a Monster kindles a powerful rage. It was only a matter of time before they ended up this way. Nothing comes out of a Vault except nightmares. The Monsters within can never truly be caged, her father should have known that better than most. Should never have even tried. Because now when Tyreen escapes,  _ truly _ escapes, all the worlds will suffer for that mistake. As with all things, it is only a matter of time.

Time. What a funny concept it is, this passage that is supposed to mend old wounds and soften hard edges. It hasn't softened  _ her _ in the slightest. The wounds are hidden behind layers and layers of her persona, but they fester and rot as though open to the world. Troy's internal wounds started to heal the moment they left. Of course, he didn't seem to notice the growth, but Tyreen does and it eats at her.  _ He  _ didn't hate their father until  _ she _ got them away from the bastard. And yet he had the audacity to get better without her.

There is nothing she can do about it.

Because there are times that Tyreen doesn't love their mother the way that Troy still does. Times that she doesn't remember her fondly. Leda didn't put a stop to the mind games or to the looks that their father threw at them when he thought they couldn't see. No, she died and left her children to be contained like an outbreak that would sweep the universe if it wasn't chained just so. Left them to grow jaded and hateful and cruel in her absence. But she doesn't say so to Troy.

Tyreen might not be the cunning one of them, but she knows exactly the words to say that would tear them apart forever.  _ Mother was as much at fault as Father. _ Tyreen is the powerful one, the destroyer, but even Gods can have a weakness. Physically she isn't bound to Troy, doesn't  _ need _ him to survive like he needs her. But she doesn't have the same way with words that he does. She has to swallow her hate for the sake of keeping him close, or this whole charade could pull apart at the seams. One day she'll tell him.

Her hands ball into fists in the sheets until she thinks her fingers will tear right through the fibers. So much power Tyreen has now and it still isn't enough to quell the hatred simmering within. She thinks, not for the first time and never aloud, the only conclusion she's capable of coming to. That the two of them are neither truly Gods or mortals, but rather some terrible shade of gray in between. Baring to the world the worst traits of each. She wonders idly if Troy knows this too. 

In the end Tyreen decides that she doesn't care.

**Author's Note:**

> This was mostly an exercise in non-shippy writing and in exploring the thoughts of an irredeemable villain. Also I'm very gay for Tyreen even tho I know she deserved what happened to her in the end.
> 
> my borderlands tumblr is tannithvibes if you wanna keep up with my writing excerpts and shitposts!


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